Smeltzer leads Liberty at Delaware County Championship

Grant Smeltzer carded a 72 to nab medalist honors and lead the Olentangy Liberty boys golf team to the title, its fifth straight, at Monday’s First Commonwealth Bank Delaware County Championship.

“A few of my players had rough starts, so I was very pleased when we came in with four scores in the 70s,” Patriot coach Ryan Snivley said. “That’s the nice thing about this group: with their experience, they can bounce back. I’m definitely proud of the guys for keeping the streak alive.”

Josh Steyer backed Smeltzer with a 75. Both shaved some serious strokes off their weekend totals.

“Neither of them were happy with their rounds of 84 and 85 on Saturday (at the Howlett Invitational),” Snivley said. “They worked on their games yesterday and came out today and scored well when some of our top guys were a little off.”

Cole Corder had a 76 and Trey Rath and Jacob Hickman finished with 78s to smooth out Liberty’s top five.

The Patriots finished with a combined 301 — a mark eight strokes better than the one second-place Olentangy posted.

The Braves, the only group to put any sort of pressure on the Patriots, were boosted by Bryce Reed’s 74 and Luke Boerner’s 75. Other contributors included Bennett Zeitner (78), Cam Casto (82) and Trey Wilson (84).

“Luke is battling a sinus issue and Trey’s back has been bothering him,” Olentangy coach Joel Glassburn said. “It was a tough day all around, the pin locations were tough, but I was happy with how we played.”

Olentangy Orange rounded out the top three with a 329. Jonathan Green led the way with an 81, Nathan Brown finished with an 82, Tyler Moll and Connor Cummins chipped in 83s and Nate English finished with an 84.

Big Walnut, Delaware Hayes and Buckeye Valley were also in action, finishing with respective team totals of 347, 374 and 401.

Michael Ford fired a 79 to lead the Golden Eagles, Luke Gazarek finished with an 83 to power the Pacers and Mitchell Lucas paced the Barons with a 91.